Happy weekend, crusaders!
As we embark on these first weeks of summer, I have to call a quick timeout to talk about teamwork.
I admit, the professional sports I follow closely are limited, but even I couldn’t avoid the NBA Finals drama this week.It was only last weekend I sort of started paying attention to the post-season tournament, and I was quickly reminded why I prefer college basketball — less drama.
Of all the sports, the NBA is probably the one I pay the least attention to. Not because I don’t like basketball, I do. I just can’t stand the way the game is often played in the NBA.
I understand that a healthy ego (paired with talent) is required to be a professional athlete, but at the end of the day, basketball is a team sport and putting the success of a team all on one player isn’t fair to the team or that single athlete and frankly it isn’t much fun to watch.
Of course, the players are not the only ones to blame for this backward mentality. I’ve seen sportswriters refer to bad plays and errors made by members of the same team as “conspiring against” the greatness of an individual player, to which I say, really?
Again, I admit to the lack of attention I pay to the NBA, but I’m pretty sure basketball is still (technically) a team sport. So referring to a player’s teammates as conspirators is completely defeating the spirit of the game.
So while I applaud the hard work it took to reach that level of talent, it loses its luster when you’re blaming your teammates for not supporting your greatness.
There’s plenty of division in the world, pitting teammates against each other as obstacles to victory is a step backward on or off the court. It’s also a reminder to the rest of us that one way or another we’re all on the same team and victory requires working together.
…bi-daily smile…
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